The present invention relates to a system, apparatus and method of providing enhanced features in a telecommunications system. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and system for answering telephone calls.
Telephone networks are increasing in sophistication, and now offer a range of enhanced calling features to subscribers. Such calling features include voice mail, call forwarding, call waiting and Caller ID, and can help a subscriber to manage incoming telephone calls. For example, Caller ID allows a subscriber to screen incoming calls.
At its most simple, Caller ID allows the person receiving a call (the callee) to identify the caller and then choose whether to answer the call based on caller""s identity. For example, during a meeting, a callee with Caller ID service may leave his wireless phone xe2x80x98onxe2x80x99. If the callee should receive a call during the meeting, the identity of the incoming caller will be displayed on the callee""s phone display. If the call is urgent, the callee may elect to leave the meeting and accept the call.
Alternatively, the callee may elect to ignore the call, perhaps muting the ringer of the telephone, and/or direct the incoming call to the callee""s voicemail.
Many mobile telephones also include a silent ringer which can signal an incoming call, typically by vibrating the handset, without making an noise. Thus, it is possible to receive a telephone call in circumstances wherein it is otherwise socially inappropriate to answer a call, such as during the showing of a movie at a movie theatre. In such an event, the user can allow the call to be forwarded to voice mail, for subsequent follow-up, or, if the mobile telephone includes Caller ID features, the user can note the telephone number and move to another location wherein it is socially acceptable to return the call.
As is apparent, the callee""s choices in these situations are limited. Thus, the callee can face the dilemma of being unable to answer a call, yet needing to do more than ignore the call or direct it to voice mail which current calling features do not permit. There are many other situations in which a callee may desire, or require, the ability of answering or otherwise responding to an incoming call without having to interrupt an ongoing activity or merely sending the call to voicemail.
One situation addressed by the prior art is where the callee is engaged in a dial-up internet connection over a PSTN telephone line. It is well known that during such a dial-up connection, the callee may receive one or more telephone calls from a caller over that PSTN telephone line. A caller in this situation is typically faced with busy signals or voice mailxe2x80x94however, the callee may be unaware that there is an urgent incoming call. In order to address this situation, U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,128 teaches a method and apparatus for permitting notification and control of blocked incoming calls over a data network. Blocked incoming calls over the PSTN are redirected to a subscriber proxy, which keeps track of an internet terminal being used by the callee, and sends a message to the callee at that internet terminal. The callee can then interact with the caller via the internet terminal to, for example, redirect the incoming call to the callee""s cell phone, or redirect the incoming call the callee""s voicemail. In any event, the callee is notified that the caller is attempting to reach the callee. However, U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,128 is limited to situations where the callee is already in a telephone call (i.e. an incoming call from the caller is blocked) and where the callee is proximal to an internet terminal.
Overall, it can be seen that the prior art is insufficient to allow a callee to manage incoming calls in certain situations.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel system, apparatus and method for call answering that obviates or mitigates at least one of the above-identified disadvantages of the prior art.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for answering a telephone call comprising: a switching device for connecting to an incoming telephone call from a caller; a storage device for storing a plurality of predefined outgoing messages; a telephony-interface device operable to receive message selection criteria from a callee; and a processing unit connected to each of the devices, the processing unit operable to assemble an outgoing message based on the criteria. The processing unit is further operable to output the selected message to the caller via the switching device.
The present invention provides a novel system, method and apparatus for answering a telephone call. In an aspect of the invention, there is provided a system for call answering that includes a switch for connecting a telephony device to incoming calls received from callers connected to the switch via a telephone network. The switch is also connected to a processing unit and a storage device that contains a plurality of pre-recorded messages. When a callee at the telephony device receives an incoming call during a meeting (or at some other inconvenient time) and yet the callee wishes to respond to the caller, then the callee can provide (via a keypad on the telephony device) message selection criteria to the processing unit. The processing unit can then assemble an outgoing message based on the message selection critiera. The message is assembled from the plurality of messages saved on the storage device. Having assembled the message, the processing unit can then play that outgoing message to the caller. In this manner, the callee is afforded a way to discretely respond to the caller without having to interrupt the meeting (or other activity that makes it inconvenient for the callee to answer the call.)